Butler coach Brad Stevens is calling on those who govern and administer college sports to consider altering the construction of basket supports to avoid future episodes similar to what occurred with Bulldogs guard Rotnei Clarke in last Saturday’s game at Dayton.

Clarke was fouled hard by Dayton’s Matt Derenbecker on a breakaway layup attempt and, as a result, crashed head-first into the basket support. He initially had no feeling in his arms and legs, but subsequently recovered both and was diagnosed with a severe neck sprain.

“But I think the bigger question is, at what point are we gong to start talking about the backstops being so close to the floor?” Stevens said to the Indianapolis Star. “I don’t know that there’s an exact answer. But we saw one of the scarier moments in college basketball in a long time on Saturday. When it involves a guy that’s on your team, it especially pulls and tugs at you.”

To paraphrase a cliché, Stevens has the right gym, but the wrong bench.

There is an exact answer: make automatic ejection the penalty for a flagrant breakaway foul.

Derenbecker was called for a flagrant foul on the play, which meant the Bulldogs were awarded two free throws and the basketball. He was visibly worried something bad had happened to Clarke as medical personnel treated him; Derenbecker quite obviously had no malicious intent. He was just doing what most players have been coached to do their entire careers: allow no easy baskets.

Given the potential consequences of this principle, it’s time for basketball rules makers to ban the hard breakaway foul from the game. Officials already must rule whether or not a player makes a legitimate attempt on the ball in determining whether or not a foul is flagrant, and they have video review available to them to be certain.

Increasing the consequences of a flagrant foul in that situation would force coaches to reconsider how they teach defending the play. If a gifted athlete can make a legitimate play on the ball, even if he makes contact it should be considered a common foul. But those fouls designed solely to prevent the opportunity for an easy basket, the ones that already carry an enhanced penalty, might be eliminated from the game if automatic ejection were the consequence.

Other sports have enhanced penalties for infractions in the attempt to deny a breakaway score. In soccer, a defender who fouls a player on a breakaway attempt—particularly the goalkeeper—is at considerable risk of being shown a red card and dismissed from the game. And that’s just for the sake of competition, not safety. Shouldn’t player health be the most important concern?

“He didn’t want to make it an easy shot for me,” Clarke told the Star. “That’s understandable. That’s part of the game.”

It is. But it shouldn’t be. Not any longer. Just ask yourself what’s worse: an open layup, or an injured athlete?